1893 fishing schooner to offer Erie day sails

Friday

The Flagship Niagara won't be the only ship in port at the Erie Maritime Museum this summer.

The fishing schooner Lettie G. Howard, built in 1893 in Essex, Massachusetts, will offer public day sails, school day sails and sail-training voyages out of Erie while the Niagara is away on its Great Lakes sail-training schedule in 2018 and 2019.

The two-masted schooner is owned by the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City. The vessel's sparred length is 125 feet. In the early 1990s, the South Street Seaport Museum restored the vessel to its original 1893 appearance, and outfitted the ship to accomodate trainees on educational voyages.

"One of the things we hear all the time in the museum from out-of-town guests is they don't understand why the Niagara isn't always here,'' Flagship Niagara League Executive Director Shawn Waskiewicz said Thursday during an afternoon news conference at the Erie Maritime Museum outlining program initiatives.

"The museum is beautiful, we have a lot to offer, but the Niagara is our No. 1 artifact here, and people don't understand why we go to other ports and do other festivals outside of Erie,'' he said. "Now they won't be asking that question anymore.''

Waskiewicz said the two-year collaboration will allow the Flagship Niagara League to expand Erie Maritime Museum visitor services.

"This ship (Lettie) is going to be in Erie all the time, so when the Niagara is gone, there's always going to be a vessel here,'' Waskiewicz said. "We think there's a lot of opportunity on the water and on the bayfront and we just want to do our part to drive local tourism and the economy, and try to offer more services down here on the water.''

Day sails aboard the Lettie G. Howard will start May 25 and continue through mid-September, and can be booked at www.flagshipniagara.com.

Niagara Capt. Billy Sabatini said 319 day sails are scheduled on the Lettie. Operating both vessels will require the hiring of additional crew, Sabatini said.

Other program initiatives aboard the Lettie include establishing a tall ships summer day camp and expanding the Flagship Niagara League's current sailing program with the Erie School District.

"We're going to be expand our footprint to the younger generation,'' Waskiewicz said. "We're already talking with the Erie School District about expanding our school-day programming. Right now we have a program for eighth-grade student day sails with the city and we're looking to expand that to the fifth grade level with the Erie School District on Lettie.''

Flagship Niagara League officials also announced three staff promotions at Thursday's news conference.

Sabatini, who was promoted to Niagara captain in 2014 after serving as the vessel's chief mate, will continue his Niagara captain role, but will take on additional titles of fleet captain and sailing director. He will oversee the operation of both vessels.

Niagara Chief Mate and Relief Capt. David Goldberg has been promoted to captain of the Lettie, and Niagara Second Mate Chris Cusson has been promoted to Niagara chief mate.

"With this collaboration, we're enhancing Erie's waterfront activity,'' Sabatini said. "We're giving people more reasons to come to our bayfront. We want this to be a destination, and the way Erie is going to be transformed into a destination is by having this water-borne activity constantly happening. I want people to start looking at Erie from the water up and not from the hill looking down at the water. If we can make that transformation, then Erie will be a port city not from an industrial standpoint, but also from a tourism standpoint and a recreational standpoint.''

Waskiewicz said he hopes to have the Lettie G. Howard arrive in Erie no later than May 20. Day sails will be offered five days a week, he said.

"On the days and times we're not out on the water, people who tour the Erie Maritime Museum can also tour the Lettie while she's in port,'' Waskiewicz said. "We can get younger kids on board and the price is much more affordable for a family.''

Flagship Niagara League officials said they also envision offering overnight programs and creating semester-long programs aboard the Lettie.

"The Niagara has a Coast Guard inspection that allows it to stay just in the Great Lakes, so that's why we go to the places we go to,'' Waskiewicz said. "The Lettie can go anywhere. One of the big aspirations of ours is to get an accredited program to do a trip from Erie to New York City, and then from New York City down the Atlantic Coast to Florida and the Caribbean Sea. That's something we're looking at doing for next year.''

The Lettie will sail to Erie in May via the Erie Canal (officially known as the New York State Canal System), expanding the South Street Seaport Museum's celebration of the Erie Canal's bicentennial.

"These vessels are difficult to operate, difficult to maintain and difficult to keep full and busy,'' said Jonathan Boulware, executive director of the South Street Seaport Museum. "That's where this collaboration is going to be additive to everyone. By bringing the Lettie into the Great Lakes, we will have her active and busy and full of people. She'll be cared for and we will reconnect 200 years after its inception, the Great Lakes, Erie and the Erie Canal down to its connection to the oceans and ports of the world in New York City.''

Ron Leonardi can be reached at 870-1680 or by e-mail. Follow him on twitter at www.Twitter.com/ETNLeonardi.

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